Preservings $20 Issue No. 26, 2006 - Home at Plett Foundation

ecoming the Church Moderator in the 1990s.
In the area of education and spiritual reform,
the former Ältester Jacob F. Isaac, who had
encouraged his younger sons, Ben and Abe, to
become involved in the “Sowers of Seed” spiritual
renewal activities and Abe’s graduation from
Meade Bible School, could look back in his later
years with satisfaction that his appreciation for the
study of the Scriptures and continuing education
were adopted by his family. The two sons of his
second marriage were encouraged to attend and
graduate from Meade Bible Academy. They participated
in music groups and sports teams (both
Lee and Al played varsity basketball while at
MBA, Lee played basketball at Grace University
and Al taught high school and coached basketball
along with other sports at Corn Bible Academy,
Oklahoma and Berean Academy, Elbing, Kansas).
In addition the Ältester’s grandchildren,
who lived in the Meade community, graduated
from MBA, and after its closing in 1966, from
Meade High School with fine academic achievement,
outstanding music awards, and some
distinguished themselves in sports participation.
Many attended colleges and universities where
they continued to achieve as they had in their high
school years, earning academic and music honors,
and some participating in varsity sports.
At the end of the 1950s Rev. Jacob F. and
Maria Isaac sold their remaining farmland twenty
miles southeast of Meade so they could relocate in
the City of Meade, joining numerous Mennonites
from both churches who also adopted the rural
to urban living transition. Here they were later
joined by a number of their children who also
either built or purchased homes in Meade.
Fresh new attitudes had come into a revitalized
Meade Mennonite community with evidence
of more cooperation between the two churches
that replaced the negative allegations of the late
1930s and early 1940s. Former friendships that
had become strained were re-established and
intermarriage between youth of the two churches
became a more common practice. Even a former
dissident KG leader, after the loss of his spouse,
married the widow of a former EMB Church
leader.
The Ältester who had given early support to
the “Sowers Of Seed” movement as a positive
change, which perhaps earlier had been stymied
by resistant forces came to see the time when this
movement gained significant support in the EMB
Conference as the program was adopted by some
churches through the leadership of his brother-inlaw,
the Dr. John R. Dueck. The former Ältester,
when the family decided to move to Meade, also
demonstrated his good will by putting away past
differences by selling his land to a family with
Kleine Gemeinde roots.
Rev. Isaac demonstrated his life-time commitment
to being selected in 1914 as Ältester
by refusing to resign from that position when
requested to do so prior to the final disintegration
of the Meade Kleine Geimeinde, and also later
when he declined an opportunity to relocate to
Canada in 1944 to live in his recently deceased
father-in-law’s home. His initial promise to God
to remain true to that position was not to be
broken, even though he was no longer active in
52 - Preservings No. 26, 2006
that position.
Rev. Jacob F. and Maria Isaac continued to
exhibit a spirit of love by living the final years of
their lives in the Meade community by accepting
renewed relationships with grace and kindness.
Final Comments from Rev. Jacob F. Isaac’s
Two Youngest Sons
In a letter to Preservings editor, Delbert Plett,
Al Isaac, Hillsboro, Kansas writes:
Thank you for the books (The Kleine Gemeinde
Historical Series) you gave. You handled
some sensitive topics in a balanced and respectful
manner, and I appreciate that in your writing.
My father, Ältester Jacob F. Isaac, was a leader
in a very difficult period - period when younger
people were chomping on the bit to go a different
direction and the older guard pulling on the
reins to keep everything in check. On numerous
occasions I would hear my father express concern
about how to keep the message of God and the
Gospel clear in a period of change. Frequently
when I would leave the house, his last words
to me were in low German ‘Don’t forget the
important’.
Lee and Al Isaac:
At a very young age, we became aware that
God had a special place in Dad’s life. There was
no joking when referring to God. Dad had the
utmost respect for the sovereignty of God and
light-hearted comments in reference to God
were not acceptable. The same was true of God’s
Holy Word, The Bible. We were taught that you
did not place the Bible on the floor, you did not
place other books or things on the Bible and you
held it in a reverent manner, i.e. you did not curl
it up so you could hold it in on hand. If you held
it in one hand, you would cradle the Bible in the
flat open hand.
The casual reference to God and the common
pearly-gate stories of today, as well as the
disrespectful handling and interpretation of God’s
Word would have saddened Dad’s heart. It would
have saddened his heart because he knew it was
an affront to God.
A common sight as we were growing up
was Dad sitting at this roll-top desk reading and
studying the Bible. He would read other books
occasionally, but it was usually the Bible. His
Bible was well marked. They also note that often
when guests were at the house, the discussions
would center on Biblical issues.
Endnotes
1 Delbert Plett, Dynasties of the Kleine Gemeinde, (Steinbach,
Mb: Crossway Publications, 2000), 529, 531.
2 Ibid, 530.
3 Ibid. 530.
4 Ibid. 651.
5 Ibid. 533.
6 Delbert Plett, Profile of The Mennonite Kleine Gemeinde
1874 (Steinbach, MB: DFP Publications, 1987), 88, 89 and
90.
7 Delbert Plett, Storm And Triumph (Steinbach, MB: DFP
Publications, 1986), 249.
8 Ibid. 250.
9 Ibid. 255.
10 Ibid. 251.
11 Plett, Profile of the KG 1874, 93 and 95.
12 Ibid. 95-97.
13 D. Paul Miller, “The Story of Jansen, Nebraska,” Mennonite
Life, October 1954, 175.
14 Plett, Profile of The KG 1874, 117.
15 Ibid. 107.
16 Ibid. 117-118.
17 Ibid. 120.
18 Ibid. 121.
19 Ibid. 123-124.
20 Ibid. 126-127.
21 Ibid. 107.
22 Ibid. 128-129.
23 Ibid. 129.
24 Ibid. 129.
25 Rev. Jacob F. Isaac, Obituary of Mrs. Jacob F. Isaac, Died
July 30, 1936, Written August 17, 1936.
26 Isaac, A Brief Autobiography, 1948. Courtesy of Lee Isaac,
Hugoton, Kansas. See also Profile of The KG, 131.
27 Isaac, Diary. Courtesy of Lee Isaac, Hugoton, Kansas.
See also Profile of The KG 1874, 133.
28 Isaac, A Brief Autobiography, 1948. See also Profile of
The KG 1874, 131.
29 Isaac, Letter in Meade Globe newspaper, July 15, 1909.
Courtesy of Alma Regier, Meade, Kansas; see also Plett, Dynasties
of the KG, 248-249.
30 Isaac, Obituary of Mrs. Jacob F. Isaac. Delbert Plett
notes that the deacon and minister election was on October 22,
1911, with ordination by Ab. L. Friesen on October 29, 1911.
The election as Ältester occurred on November 23, 1914 with
installation on November 29, 1914 by Peter R. Dueck from
Manitoba. Plett, Profile of the KG 1874, 134.
31 Meade KG Geimende Buch. Courtesy of Lee Isaac, Hugoton,
Kansas; see also Profile of The KG 1874, 135.
32 Delbert Plett, Preservings, June 1999, 104-105.
33 Plett, Profile of the KG 1874, 135.
34 Plett, Profile of the KG 1874, 137. G.T. Doerksen, former
missionary to China, started the school located near the EMB
Church in 1927. It was closed after the 1930 class graduated
but was reorganized in 1936 by the EMB Church and met in
the church’s basement.
35 For further insights into Jacob F. Isaac’s second marriage
to Maria Dueck and her contributions to the ministry at Meade,
see Wendy Dueck, “Maria Dueck Isaac, 1898-1975: A Woman
Ahead of Her time”, Preservings, June 1997, 47-49.
36 Merle Loewen, Personal Interviews, 2000-2004.
37 Ibid., Margaret J. Isaac Loewen Diary.
38 Plett, Profile of the KG 1874, 138.
39 Loewen, Margaret J. Isaac Loewen Diary.
40 Alma Regier, Meade EMB Church Baptisms, 28.
41 Loewen, Margaret J. Isaac Loewen Diary.
42 Ibid.
43 Ibid.
44 Plett, Profile of the KG 1874, 138.
45 Loewen, Interview with EMB Church Board member late
1990’s.
46 Ibid., Margaret J. Isaac Loewen Diary.
47 Plett, Profile of the KG 1874, 138.
48 Ibid. 137.
49 Daniel J. Classen, “The Kleine Gemeinde of Meade,
Kansas,” Bethel College paper, 1949, 29.
50 Loewen, Margaret J. Isaac Loewen Diary.
51 Ibid., Personal Interviews, post-2000.
52 Ibid., Personal Interview, 2004.
53 Classen, “The KG of Meade, Kansas,” 27-28.
54 Loewen, Personal Interview, 2004.
55 Plett, Profile of The KG 1874, 137.
56 Loewen, Meade Bible Academy history from “MBA
Memories 1953-2003” by Merle Loewen; Orlando Wiebe’s
Meade arrival date from Margaret J. Isaac Loewen Diary,
September, 1942.
57 Ibid., Interviews of former Meade Bible Academy students,
1990-2004.
58 Ibid., Interviews with Lee Isaac, Hugoton, Kansas and Al
Isaac, Hillsboro, Kansas.
59 Plett, Profile of the KG 1874, 139.
60 Ibid.,“MBA Memories 1953-2003.”
61 Ibid., Interviews, 2003-2004.